Migration-related projects in Moldova traditionally depend on external financial support. However, without alternative, domestically owned schemes and sources of funding, the sustainability of their achievements is at risk. The ETF recommends optimising the cost of interventions that involve HCD by making better use of the existing network of public VET providers, which appear to have surplus capacity in terms of human resources and infrastructure.

The ETF recommends stepping up the creation of conditions for circular migration, notably by opening opportunities for cross-border education and through the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and educational credentials. To that end, Moldova has already entered bilateral agreements with a number of host countries. The ETF recommends expanding the practice of concluding such agreements and prioritising education and training as key elements within them.

The ETF recommends integrating HCD as a priority in actions targeting all phases of migration. This can be a gradual process, and although the development of training courses must be driven by stakeholder needs, the training should be sufficiently diverse to be accessible for both beginners and advanced participants, and the facilitation of participation should become an integral part of migration policy.

The stronger involvement of domestic actors, such as state institutions, NGOs and public providers, can thereby have a positive impact on the attitudes of migrants towards their home country and open opportunities for cooperation on cross-border skills programmes between institutions from both countries.

Finally, these actions must be implemented in parallel, through a joint effort with employers, to set minimum standards of decent employment across sectors of the economy. Such actions should address the main deficiencies, such as precarious working conditions, etc.

Consideration should be given to organising or pooling together the numerous externally supported projects into a limited number of high-priority, complementary strands of strategic action under the leadership of a state body or a group of state bodies.

The ETF recommends that the authorities agree on a number of priority areas for strategic action with respect to migration policy and associate each project with one of these areas according to its potential contribution to achieving the goals within this area.

The ETF recommends complementing the existing actions that promote access to education and training opportunities with a package of measures that support students to stay in education by preventing early leaving and promoting continuation beyond lower secondary education and into VET.

The ETF recommends adjusting policy and project planning in support of labour market participation so that it routinely includes services and training offers that are more user-friendly and appealing for young people, thus making the focus on youth an integral part of Moldova's mainstream labour market policy.

The ETF recommends diversifying programmes that support the inclusion of young people in education and employment so that they are more in line with the needs of specific, high-priority groups of young people at risk and address the main determinants of their exclusion. There seems to be an acute need for actions that specifically support young people in rural areas, those with low levels of educational attainment, those taking care of family members (e.g. young mothers), and those coming from vulnerable socioeconomic backgrounds.

Measures to reach out to these groups of young people and to activate them should go hand in hand with the creation of opportunities for decent jobs and the provision of training to prepare prospective candidates for these jobs.

The ETF recommends considering ways of providing more and better capacity building for staff in institutions of importance for employment and youth policies and designing a system of incentives for staff to participate in capacity building and professional training.